Warner Bros. has purchased the rights to “Rome Sweet Rome,” a story about U.S. Marines fighting in the time of ancient Rome. The concept was developed from a series of comments pulled from the /r/ AskReddit subreddit.

About a month ago, a question appeared on the subreddit that read “Could I destroy the entire Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus if I traveled back in time with a modern U.S. Marine infantry battalion of MEU?” The AskReddit subreddit is a place on the site where users pose questions of all types to fellow Redditors, and discussion ensues.

One user, Prufrock451 posted a comment that was quickly upvoted to the top. The comment was a 5-paragraph beginning of a story. Prufrock451 continued to post installations of his story – titled “Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 etc.” The story, an exercise in flash fiction, became wildly popular on Reddit.

Here’s a snippet from Day 2:

Meanwhile, the mysterious appearance of the Marines has not gone unnoticed. Peasants have fled to the home of the land’s owner, Senator Aulus Terentius Varro Murena. It is 23 BC, and Murena is about to form a Republican conspiracy against Augustus Caesar. He and other Senators are deeply suspicious of the Imperator and fear that he will swamp their ancient order with newly minted Senators from his swelling armies. The appearance of a small but apparently competent armed force – with a vast array of what appears to be bizarre siege machinery – on his land makes him fear the worst. He dispatches several spies to monitor the visitors and orders his retainers to avoid the camp. He also sends messengers to his co-conspirators in the Senate.

Redditors posted their own tidbits to the story, made fan-art and even made trailer mashups for the hypothetical film. It eventually received its own subreddit at /r/RomeSweetRome.

[Poster mockup by user stabyourface]

And now it’s going to be a movie.

Prufrock451 turns out to be James Erwin, a writer and former Jeopardy champion. According to Variety an exec from Madhouse Entertainment contacted Erwin when he saw “Rome Sweet Rome” gaining steam on Reddit. They began working to develop the concept and after it was completed they pitched it the Warner Bros. It looks like the pitch went well.

Erwin tweeted about it this morning -

Flash fiction is a growing form of literature these days, but this is definitely a first for something like this. Will you line up to see the film? Let us know in the comments.

They have announced a long-term deal with CBS and Warner Bros. to stream CW scripted series – that includes the hit shows The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, 90210, Supernatural, Nikita, One Tree Hill. The deal also brings new CW shows Ringer, Hart of Dixie and The Secret Circle.

Previous seasons of The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill and Nikita will will available right away, on October 15th. Previous seasons of Supernatural and 90210 will hit Netflix in January of 2012. Episodes of series currently airing on the network will be available in the Fall of 2012.

The deal stretches to the 2014-2015 seasons of the shows. And each new season of each show will be available on Netflix the Fall after it airs.

Netflix has made two other significant content acquisitions as of late. Last month they made a deal with Discovery Communications to bring in Discovery Channel content like Man vs. Wild and Deadliest Catch. Netflix also announced a deal with DreamWorks studios, the makers of films like Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, to stream their content. The only drawback to that news is that it wont be available until 2013.

Of course, any and all content acquisitions for Netflix’s streaming service is good for the company, as it is still suffering fallout from a series of big announcements – notably the price hike, and the whole Qwikster debacle.

Luckily, Reed Hastings came to his senses and dropped the whole Qwikster idea, saying that Netflix DVD services and streaming would stay under the same umbrella.

In Qwikster news, it looks like some internet denizens aren’t going to let the failed idea die. Today’s daily deal on Woot.com is a Lenovo laptop and it features a hilarious write-up comparing the product to Netflix’s Chief Operation Officer Andy Rendich. He was supposed to take over as the top guy at Qwikster.

But now Qwikster is no more, and the Woot post compares him to all of those who never got their shot –

Because you’re every kid who was open but didn’t get the ball. You’re every musician who had the chops but couldn’t get airplay. You’re Brando in On The Waterfront, you’re Dave Mustaine, you’re Takeru Kobayashi being dragged away by the cops just before the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. You were there and ready and wanted to go, but someone else took your moment before you could prove yourself.

Content acquisitions like this can do nothing but help Netflix, but it’s apparent that they are still climbing the hill when it comes to winning back their millions of users.

The show, called “Aim High” will debut on October 18th on Facebook and run for six episodes.

Here’s what the show’s about, according to the Facebook page –

Nick Green is a top agent for the US government – effective, clever and deadly. He’s also got a paper on Crime and Punishment due Tuesday, a biology quiz this afternoon and thirty pages on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire to read tonight…because Nick is sixteen years old.

He likes school, but only when it’s over for the day. There are the girls, of course – especially Amanda, a wickedly cool rocker chick who dates Derek, the captain of school’s championship swim team. Nick wants her anyway.

So it’s your basic high-school-kid-doubles-as-a-secret-agent fare. What’s the difference? Apparently, the show will be personalized each week to the person watching it. Using your Facebook data, the show will change from user to user.

For instance, whatever music you like or might have just listened to on Facebook will turn up as the music the characters are listening to in the show. Your photos as well as your friends’ photos will show up on screen – maybe as a poster on someone’s wall or as the subject of a TV broadcast. Basically, your stuff will populate the world of Aim High.

“You’re detached when you watch a show on FOX or NBC or when you go to the movies. This experience is more intimate,” the producer McG told Reuters.

You might know McG as the producer behind Chuck, Supernatural and The O.C. The star of the show is Jackson Rathbone, of Twilight fame.

I’m not sure if the targeted group (women aged 14-34, according to Warner Bros) will jump for this or not. The social aspect is interesting, but can a series thrive on Facebook? What do you think of the idea? Let us know in the comments.

The Dark Knight was a landmark in viral marketing. Whysoserious.com gained a lot of attention when it used the scavenger hunt concept to unlock a teaser trailer and a reveal pic of Heath Ledger as the Joker in the film. The viral campaign “I believe in Harvey Dent” was also employed to generate buzz about the inclusion of Two-Face in the film.

A couple weeks ago, The Dark Knight Rises‘ (TDKR) viral campaign began on Twitter, as the account @thefirerises revealed a picture, pixel by pixel, of TDKR’s new villian, Bane. Pixels were removed, one by one, by tweets containing the hashtag #thefirerises. The photo revealed keeps in line with the mysterious hyper-realism of Nolan’s revamp.

Now, the campaign has taken another step – this time with YouTube videos. On the YouTube Channel entitled “TheFireRises,” a few short videos have been posted. 419 shows grainy footage of a burning cab car and a burning building. It’s set to some pretty dramatic chanting. Outbreak looks to be footage from inside a prison (or asylum!), with orange jump-suited people with black bags over their heads. The video closes with a first person view of vehicle weaving through traffic on an underpass. GCN is the most telling, showing Gotham Cable News reporter Mike Engel (Anthony Michael Hall) reporting on an “Arkham Breakout.”

The final video, GCN, links at the end to a Facebook page for The Fire Rises. On this page, we find a picture of Matthew Modine with the name “Nixon” behind him. Modine is signed on to TDKR, and it is rumored that he will play a politician named Nixon.

Is this all clever marketing by the folks at Warner Bros? Have some overzealous and dubious fans created these videos, making them seem like they are a part of the film? If so, it’s quite impressive as the videos are pretty damn cool. Entertainment Weekly reached out to Warner Bro for a comment but only got a “no comment at this time” in response.

Are these legit viral vids, detailing plot points of the upcoming TDKR? Will there be an Arkham breakout? Will Gotham smolder as the trilogy comes to a close? Let us know what you think.

The test began with the movie studio offering Facebook users the ability to watch the film, The Dark Knight from the Facebook Page for the title. Now, Warner Bros. has expanded the test to include five additional films: Inception, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Life as We Know It, and Yogi Bear.

“We’re pleased to expand our test with a variety of titles that will appeal to a broad audience,” said Thomas Gewecke, President of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.  ”These titles have substantial followings on Facebook.  The Fan Pages for ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Inception’ alone are two of the most popular and active communities on the site.”

Facebook users can rent a movie by clicking “watch now” from the Faecbook pages of these titles. They will use Facebook Credits to pay. That’s why this could be huge for Facebook.
If movie rental via Facebook becomes adopted by more movie studios, and users actually go for it, that’s going to be a whole lot of Facebook Credits used, which could translate into consumers getting more accustomed to the payment method in general, as Facebook expands it into other areas, and more third-parties find interesting new ways to harness Facebook.

It would also mean a great deal more time spent on Facebook by users. This will only serve to make Facebook even more attractive to advertisers.

As connected TVs and related devices become more widely adopted, Facebook will become just as good a place as any to quickly watch a movie on demand. Users are already spending much of their online time on Facebook as it is. Finding a page for the movie is generally very easy to do, and then there is the added benefit of being able to discuss movies with friends from the same place.

Some have already written Neflix’s epitaph, but Netflix is smart enough to expand its own offerings into exclusive content.

Warner Bros. has become the first Hollywood studio to offer movies directly on Facebook. The studio announced that it will begin testing an offering of selected movies for purchase or rental through its Facebook Page. Users will be able to use Facebook Credits to purchase or rent films while they’re on Facebook.

“Facebook has become a daily destination for hundreds of millions of people,” said Thomas Gewecke, President of Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. “Making our films available through Facebook is a natural extension of our digital distribution efforts. It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world’s largest social network.”

The studio has kicked it all off by offering The Dark Knight on the Facebook Page for the movie.

Like to talk during the movies? There are already entire businesses based on the concept of talking about the video content you’re watching with your friends on social media. If you’re watching a movie on Facebook, this should be easier than ever.

Of course, besides being incredibly disruptive for the online video and movie industries, this has the potential to be massive for Facebook for a variety of reasons. For one, Facebook credits – getting them more mainstream. Two: much more time spent on Facebook by users – an area where Facebook is hardly lacking as it is. This will only be more attractive to advertisers.

As connected TVs and related devices find their way into more homes, this is likely to become more of an attractive concept for users. However, it will be interesting to see how the studios adapt to it.

Imagine a world where studios have Facebook Pages set up for all of their movies, where they can easily be rented and viewed instantly right from Facebook. It remains to be seen whether WB will follow through on this concept, as this is just a test. It also remains to be seen whether other studios will follow suit. If so, the competition in the movie-rental industry is going to have to find some interesting ways to differentiate themselves.
Right now, WB has the cost per rental at 30 Facebook Credits or $3. It’s currently only available in the U.S. Additional titles will be available over the coming months.

Through the monthly and annual Amazon Studios Awards, Amazon Studios will offer a total of $2.7 million to the top submissions received by Dec. 31, 2011, and will seek to develop the top Amazon Studio projects as commercial feature films under its first-look deal with Warner Bros. Pictures.

Amazon says its goal is to produce new, full-budget theatrical films based on the best projects. Under the Amazon Studios development agreement, if a filmmaker or screenwriter creates a project with an original script and it is released by Amazon Studios as a theatrical feature film, the submitter will receive a rights payment of $200,000; if the movie makes over $60 million at the U.S. box office, the original filmmaker or screenwriter will receive a $400,000 bonus.  If Warner Bros is not interested in developing a particular project, Amazon Studios can produce the project with another studio.

Filmmakers are invited to add full-length test movies to Amazon Studios. Test movies may be made from an original script or from any script submitted to Amazon Studios. Test movies must be full length (more than 70 minutes), but they don’t have to be "full budget." While test movies must include imaginative stories with great acting and sound they don’t need to have theatrical-quality production values. Film fans can review Amazon Studios scripts and test movies, or even upload alternate, revised versions.

Winning screenplays and full-length test movies will be selected on the basis of commercial viability, which will include consideration of premise, story, character, dialogue, emotion and other elements of great movies.

In the 2011 Annual Awards, Amazon Studios will award $100,000 to the best script and $1 million to the best movie submitted by December 31, 2011. To be eligible for the first monthly awards, test movies and scripts must be uploaded by January 31, 2011. Winners for the first monthly awards will be announced near the end of February 2011– $100,000 for the best full-length test movie and $20,000 each for the two best scripts.
 

Would you consider dropping Netflix if they don’t feature timely new releases? Let us know.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said, "So far the 28-day window has clearly been a success versus no delay … the question of whether we ought to go longer is very much under scrutiny. It may well be a good idea."

Since Janurary, Netflix and Redbox customers were forced to wait a month to get new releases from Warner Bros… soon you could be waiting 45 or maybe even 60 days, but that’s just speculation at this point, as the current contract doesn’t expire until 2011.

The worst part about this situation is that other movie studios will probably jump on the upped wait time bandwagon. Will someone please explain why blocking or throttleing content seem like a good idea? This makes about as much sense as networks blocking content from Google TV.

Vent your frustrations here.

Under the agreement, Netflix has acquired the streaming rights to all 100 episodes of "Nip/Tuck," "Veronica Mars," "Pushing Daisies" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles."

"Netflix and Warner Bros. have a history of innovation and partnership," said Robert Kyncl, vice president of content acquisition for Netflix.

"This agreement breaks new ground for both of us in the area of subscription, commercial-free streaming of first cycle syndication network and cable TV shows. We are proud to make more movies and TV episodes from Warner Bros. available to Netflix members."

Earlier this year, Netflix and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced an agreement under which new releases on DVD and Blu-ray will be made available to Netflix subscribers after a 28-day window.

"Our Netflix streaming relationship is a good example of the opportunities the digital space provides to make content available in new ways at appropriate points in the product lifecycle," said Thomas Gewecke, president, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution.

Netflix offers streaming to TVs via a growing number of devices including Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PS3 and Nintendo’s Wii consoles; Blu-ray disc players from Samsung, LG and Insignia; Internet TVs from LG, Sony and VIZIO; the Roku digital video player and TiVo digital video recorders, and Apple’s iPad tablet.
 

The move by Warner is an effort to squeeze all the potential profit it can from its new releases. Warner says under the deal Netflix will benefit by paying the studio less for new releases. The agreement also expands the license for Warner Bros. streaming content allowing Netflix to offer its members more movies they can watch instantly.

"We’ve been discussing new approaches with Warner Bros. for some time now and believe we’ve come up with a creative solution that is a ‘win-win’ all around," said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix.

"We’re able to help an important business partner meet its objectives while improving service levels for our members by acquiring substantially more units than in the past after a relatively short sell-through window. At the same time, we’re able to extend the range of choices available to be streamed to our members."

Warner Bros. says 75 percent of new release sales occur in the first four weeks of availability. New releases from all suppliers account for about 30 percent of Netflix shipments. Look for more studios to follow Warner’s lead.

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